Ken Borland

Assupol Tuks have carried the same ruthless, clinical form they showed back in South Africa in April when they qualified for the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals into the main event in London and now the University of Pretoria students have just a couple of hurdles left in order to complete their journey to Varsity T20 World Cup glory.

Having whitewashed the University of Stellenbosch 3-0 three months ago to qualify as South Africa’s representatives for the eight-nation tournament, Tuks have duly topped their group at the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals with three emphatic victories and will now take on defending champions Rizvi Mumbai College in the semi-finals today at the Oval.

“I’m very happy with the focus of the side, we’ve set high standards and we’re going to fight all the way to the end. We’ve worked so hard, so we want to be at 100%. We’re playing the defending champions, so they must know they’re in for a fight,” Tuks coach Pierre de Bruyn told The Pretoria News yesterday.

While Rizvi Mumbai won the second edition of the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals last April in Sri Lanka, they only finished second in Group 1 this year, behind the University of New South Wales, and they are going to have to find a way of matching the tremendous form of the Tuks batsmen.

While comparisons across groups may be a little unfair, Tuks have posted totals of 205-4, 110-3 and 178-5, while Rizvi’s scores have been 123-1, 132-8 and 107-9.

“I haven’t had the chance to watch much of Rizvi, but the standard of their batting is a question, they’ve had a couple of collapses and the Oval pitch looks a bit juicy.

“We wanted to see contributions from all eight of our batsmen and we’ve managed to do that. Theunis de Bruyn and Aiden Markram are the top scorers in the competition, but Johan Wessels has done nicely at four, Heinrich Klaasen has had a couple of good knocks and Sean Dickson has been finishing the innings well. I’m really confident in our batting unit,” De Bruyn said.

Where Tuks will need to make a plan is in terms of the bowling, where a couple of injuries could rob them of the services of two seamers.

Tian Koekemoer has an ankle injury, while Theunis de Bruyn strained a hamstring.

“Tian will definitely play and might even open the batting, but Johan Wessels might have to fill in for him with the ball. Theunis can play, but won’t be able to bowl. So we’re going to have to box clever with the seamers,” coach De Bruyn said.

The Tuks new-ball attack is bound to be a handful, however, particularly if conditions at the Oval today are the same as yesterday. Nobody has taken more wickets in the competition than Corbin Bosch (7), while Vincent Moore has conceded just 46 runs in 10 overs.

And the Tuks spinners have stated their intent to match their sub-continental rivals in no uncertain terms, with Ruben Claasen, David Mogotlane and Markram forming a potent combination.

Rizvi have a lot less pedigree than Tuks when it comes to performances in senior cricket: The University of Pretoria have five first-class cricketers with 125 caps between them across the three formats; Rizvi have one player – Kevin Almeida – who has played three T20s for Mumbai. Plus Markram and Bosch are ICC U19 World Cup winners.

But semi-final, knockout cricket often curdles the brains and stomachs of the supposed favourites and De Bruyn has stressed the importance of being at 100% to his team.

“It’s 50/50 from now on and if we struggle under pressure and make mistakes, then we won’t go through. We need to stay calm, absorb the pressure and eliminate basic mistakes.

“But we’ve been in this situation so many times in the last three years, we want those pressure buttons,” De Bruyn said.

Tuks have been in such control in all three of their matches in London thus far that it is clearly going to take something special from Rizvi to knock them off course, but then again, the Mumbai students are defending their title and will not be in the mood to fold.

The University of New South Wales play the Jamaica Inter-Collegiate Sports Association in the other semi-final today, with the two winners meeting in the grand final this evening [6.30pm SA time].

http://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/pretoria-news-weekend/textview

The University of Pretoria cricket team left for the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals in London on Thursday evening determined to bring the varsity world cup back to South Africa.

Assupol Tuks are representing South Africa at the T20 event for the first time and will be joining the student champions from the United Kingdom, Australia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies in the finals, with 106 universities taking part in the qualifying tournaments.

The eight finalists will be split into two round-robin groups of four, with the draw only being done on Sunday evening. The top two teams in each group will then contest the semi-finals next Saturday, with the final to follow later the same day.

Tuks have been the national club champions for the last three years, enjoying an 18-match unbeaten run in the process, they are the South African Students Sports Union champions and in the last week they have beaten SA A twice in warm-up games.

“We’ve put a lot of work in for the last 12 weeks and I’m really chuffed with our preparation. It was great for the guys to play against SA A and measure themselves, and we managed to ruffle a few feathers as well.

“So everyone’s looking confident and very excited. We’re expecting a very high standard at the tournament, but we’re going there to win. The trophy looks like the real World Cup and we want it here,” coach Pierre de Bruyn said before the team’s departure on Thursday evening.

Tuks will arrive in England on Friday confident of their chances of winning the title in South Africa’s debut appearance at the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals.

The strength of the Tuks team would seem to lie in their batting. Opener Aiden Markram was not only the inspirational captain of the SA U19 side that won the Junior World Cup earlier this year but was also named the Player of the Tournament for the runs he scored at the top of the order. He has shown no signs of easing up since then and is joined in a powerful Tuks batting line-up by Theunis de Bruyn, one of the brightest batting talents in the Titans franchise, and strokeplayers such as Heinrich Klaasen, Sean Dickson and Johan Wessels, all of whom have been in fine form lately.

Left-armer Vincent Moore and Corbin Bosch, another SA U19 star who was man of the match in the Junior World Cup final, spearhead the bowling. Both have immaculate skills in the death overs, while seamers De Bruyn, Tian Koekemoer and Wessels, and off-spinners Markram and the lanky Ruben Claasen, slow left-armer David Mogotlane and leg-spinner GC Pretorius provide a wealth of options in all conditions.

The success of the Tuks side in the last three years also means they have mastered the knack of winning under pressure and coach De Bruyn, one of the most tenacious players of his era, takes pride in the ability of his team to get the job done.

“Some people don’t like pressure, but we want it, we thrive on it. We don’t pretend it’s not around and we’ve coached the players to deal with it. They make sure they find a way to perform under pressure and that plays a massive role, they have belief when they’re under the pump because they’ve overcome most pressure situations in the last three years,” De Bruyn said.

“I don’t think we could be better prepared, we’ve done the hard work and now we just need to express our skills with confidence. We’re a tight unit, we’ve been tested under pressure and we’ve won matches which we shouldn’t have won. I’m very confident in the batting and we have all the bases covered in our bowling,” Theunis de Bruyn, the captain, said.

The tournament starts on Monday at the Wormsley Cricket Club, while Saturday’s semi-finals and final will be held at the famous Oval.

Participating teams: Leeds Bradford MCC (United Kingdom); University of New South Wales (Australia); University of Liberal Arts (Bangladesh); Rizvi College (India); Karachi University (Pakistan); University of Pretoria (South Africa);International College of Business and Technology (Sri Lanka); Jamaica University (West Indies).

Tuks squad: Theunis de Bruyn, Heinrich Klaasen, Sean Dickson, Gerry Pike, Aiden Markram, Corbin Bosch, David Mogotlane, Tian Koekemoer, Vincent Moore, Nsovo Baloyi, GC Pretorius, Ruben Claassen, Johan Wessels.

http://www.redbull.com/za/en/stories/1331665381247/assupol-tuks-ready-for-campus-cricket-world-finals

The University of Pretoria’s Assupol Tuks have ended the 2013/14 summer far ahead of any other club in the country, winning their third successive National Club Championships title earlier this week, to add to their triumphs as the leading student team in the country and their success in qualifying as the South African representatives for the closest thing to a varsity world cup.

Tuks’ success – they have gone unbeaten through 18 games and three years in the National Club Championships and have won the Northerns Premier League for the last five years, including an unbeaten run of 85 matches – is down to the perfect dovetailing of wonderful talent, an inspiring coach and tremendous facilities at the same time and in the same place.

Graeme van Buuren, Theunis de Bruyn and Vincent Moore are all players who have already shown great potential at franchise level for the Titans, while Aiden Markram and Corbin Bosch are two future stars fresh from winning the U19 World Cup.

And then there are the lesser known but key players like new-ball pair Gerhard Linde and Sean Nowak, spinners GC Pretorius, Ruben Claasen, Tertius Gouws and David Mogatlane, all-rounders Johan Wessels and Tian Koekemoer, and talented batsmen like Sean Dickson, Heinrich Klaasen, Murray Coetzee and Gerry Pike.

Pierre de Bruyn is the coach who brings all this talent together and gets it performing as a phenomenal unit. A hard-nosed cricketer from Easterns and a protégé of Ray Jennings, De Bruyn believes strongly in work ethic and discipline.

“I wasn’t talented at all but I managed to string together 15 years as a professional cricketer through complete hard work. I always tried to be one step ahead of the guy next to me through focus, discipline and work ethic. I really wanted the tough situation and it helps coaching to have had a tough career myself.

“From what I’ve experienced as a player, I can teach the youngsters how to start and sustain a professional career, both of which are not that easy. I’m working with guys who have everything in terms of talent, but I can really teach them things in terms of mental preparation or how to build an innings,” De Bruyn said.

Multiple trophy-winning Tuks coach Pierre de Bruyn

The professional approach at Tuks has led to someone like national U19 captain Markram making the strides Jennings hoped for when he suggested the batsman go to the University of Pretoria.

“I’m very happy here, the training is awesome, at very high intensity, and this is where my game will improve,” Markram said, and that was borne out by him winning the player of the tournament awards for both the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals, that saw Tuks beat Maties to secure a trip to London for the world finals, and the Momentum National Club Championships.

The considerable support of both the University of Pretoria’s sports office and chief sponsor Assupol ensures that the Tuks cricket team has facilities which are fit for a first-class team and that they have been able to spend R2.5 million on upgrading the nets.

While Tuks’ success is obviously wonderful for the team, their coaching staff and the players’ parents and supporters, it’s important not to lose sight of the bigger picture and that is the benefit Titans cricket derives from their prosperity.

“The Titans definitely benefit from the excellence of Tuks. With full-time coaching, top facilities and the support of the university and a major sponsor, they attract top players. It makes it hard for the other clubs in Northerns, but ultimately it all benefits the Titans,” president John Wright said.